| Author | (Porter) P.J. Alexander & Windham | |
| Distribution | Puzzling. RAB (1968) cited records from Swain and Watauga counties, and there is also a specimen for Buncombe County. Weakley (2018) states: "RAB assigns this plant (as Arabis laevigata var. burkii) to NC based on somewhat aberrant specimens from high elevation cove forests; these are better assigned to B. laevigata. Hopkins (1937), however, cites a specimen from Hot Springs, Madison County, NC, an area with plausible habitats (dry sedimentary rock woodlands, shale barrens)". The NCNHP considers it as historical (SH rank) and does not even track records. For now, the website editors keep the species on the state list as "definitively" recorded from the state.
This species is scarce and is mostly a Central Appalachian endemic. It occurs from PA south to western NC and eastern TN. | |
| Abundance | Considered of historical occurrence in the state. The NCNHP has it listed as Significantly Rare - Historical. | |
| Habitat | This is a species/taxon of dry and rocky places, usually at or near outcrops of shale, limestone, and other rare (in NC) rock types. It does not grow in rich cove forests or other rich forests, even where rocky. | |
| Phenology | Blooms in April and May, and fruits in May and June. | |
| Identification | This species is quite similar to B. laevigata (see that account) except that its stem leaves are "not all auricled or sagittate-clasping at the base" (Weakley 2018). The common species does have such clasping leaves with lobes at the base. This distinction can indeed be difficult to determine, at least on pressed specimens; however, on Google photos, the leaves are narrow and clearly just tapered at the base, and thus in real life it might not be overly difficult to identify. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Many references do not consider this as a separate species from B. laevigata. NatureServe even has these species still in Arabis, as A. laevigata var. burkii -- and a Global Rank of G5T3T5. Weakley (2020) moved the Boechera species tp Borodinia.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Burk's Smooth Rockcress | |
| State Rank | SH | |
| Global Rank | G3G5 | |
| State Status | SR-P | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
